


A Very Merry 2077 Christmas

by Wealthywetsunny



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Parade, Cyberpunk Slang, F/M, Fear of Death, Fluff, He has a heart and feels for her, Humor, Johnny tries to get V into the Xmas spirit, Mentions of Death, No Spoilers, Past Corpo!V
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:20:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28246830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wealthywetsunny/pseuds/Wealthywetsunny
Summary: It’s not fair. Johnny doesn’t deserve to feel the beginning of Christmas spirit race through her veins when it’s all his fault that her friends are dead and she’s dying too.But this’ll probably be her last Christmas parade. May as well enjoy it.
Relationships: Johnny Silverhand/Female V
Comments: 23
Kudos: 117





	A Very Merry 2077 Christmas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [9shadowcat9](https://archiveofourown.org/users/9shadowcat9/gifts).



V doesn’t say it aloud—if she does she might just break and cry—but spending Christmas with Johnny, watching the annual parade with him, makes her think about all the what if’s that have been floating around her head since her last job involving Arasaka. More specifically, it makes her think of Jackie. The person she’s meant to be spending the holiday with right about now. 

But he’s dead and gone. Part of her blames Johnny, he's the only one nearby to shoulder such a thing, and when he shows up to lean against the same guard rail as her, she nearly slaps him. 

It’s not  _ fair.  _ He doesn’t deserve to feel the beginning of Christmas spirit race through her veins when it’s all his fault that her friends are dead and she’s dying too. 

But this’ll probably be her last Christmas parade. May as well enjoy it. 

“Jack loved this,” she says when she feels Johnny’s eyes on her, “his favorite part were the holo floats.” She swallows nervously, head dipping down to scan the street below. Watching as festively decorated trucks slowly made their way through the parted crowds. “Me though? I like the firework show, the specialized chips that let us watch the musicians further up that way.” She jerks her thumb behind her to where the parade will inevitably continue. 

“Musicians?”

She nods, rubbing her palms together and regretting not wearing her gloves tonight. “Yeah. Gotta a few bands playing, they do it every year.” She finally musters up the courage to look over at him. Rage bubbling in her stomach at his relaxed body language, so very different from her own. “They didn’t have that in your time?”

“Not really. I mean we had a parade but…nothing like this. It’s all brand new.”

“In what way?”

“Looks fancier. The streets are cleaner, more of those twinkling lights are set up around shops, bigger Christmas trees, that kinda thing.” He leans into her, shoulder bumping into hers. “It’s all a front though, to hide how Night City is going to shit.”

“Johnny…”

“I just—“

“Don’t wanna hear it. Please. Just…not tonight, k?”

She doesn’t expect him to fall silent, she braces herself for whatever malarkey he’s about to grace her with, but nothing comes. Just a gentle intake of air and when she looks over at him he’s got a lit cigarette dangling on his lips.

“It’s pretty,” he mumbles past the smoke he blows out into the air. “I see why ya come here.”

“Don’t tease me.”

“M’not.”

She doesn’t buy it, yet his tone is equally indifferent like always, so she can’t be sure. 

“Let’s...let’s get going. I’m tired..” 

V pushes herself off the rail and makes her way across the bridge suspended above the streets, carefully making her way through the gaggle of people as she takes the elevator down. Before she has the chance to call a cab, Johnny stops her. He’s mid stride when he appears, cutting off her path and quickly waving his hand for her to follow. 

She doesn’t, she has no clue what’s caught his attention and got him so uppity. 

“V, what on earth is that?” 

He’s leaning against a shop owner's booth, squinting at the array of biochips held up behind him. The man can’t be any older than her, but his life must be going swimmingly because there’s a sparkle of excitement in his eyes that rubs off on her just by looking at him. 

She sighs, hands tucked away into her coat pockets to keep her hands somewhat warm. “S’nothing important, Johnny, jus’ some specialized biochips.” 

“What?” He looks back at her, eyebrows raised over the rim of his glasses with a light, confused frown on his face. 

She rocks on her heels and nods. “Yeah.” 

“No, not—what are  _ they _ ?”

V’s brows furrow. Lip twitching with subtle amusement. He’s older than she first realized if he doesn’t recognize the most magical tech all parents buy their kids during the holidays. 

The 2020s sound like a very sad time, indeed. 

She walks forward, lingering on the edge of the crowd to speak to Johnny. She leans into his shoulder, laughing slightly when he watches her with rapt attention, seeming actually invested in the biochips she never looked twice at. 

It’s been years since she slotted one of them in her headpiece and let the brightly colored lights flicker in front of her face until the world had the most gorgeous Christmas filter. 

“They’re, uh, a visual enhancement feature. Shows snow where there isn’t any, makes the twinkling lights strung up appear as hearts or butterflies—whatever you like really—y’can make Night City look like your favorite scene of those classic Christmas movies. Cool shit.” 

It brings back memories she hadn't thought about in a long time. Growing up the daughter of what Johnny would call corpo scum, she hadn’t wanted for anything. And those biochips had been the highlight of her childhood. 

Johnny shifts, tossing his cigarette away and pointing at the selection before them, metal fingers reflecting the strung up Christmas lights around them. 

“You gonna buy one?”

“Oh...no. No, I don’t think so. Gonna head home, jus’ order some pizza and crash.”

He huffs, slapping her arm, “what’s the fun in that? C’mon, I wanna see what it looks like.”

She rolls her eyes, glancing back at where the parade is starting to turn a corner up ahead, slowly making its way through the city. 

“And lord knows I’d do anything for you, Johnny, right? That’s just what I live for? To serve you and make you happy?”

“Stop being such a grinch—“

“That reference is too old for the both of us—“

“—and let’s have a good time, okay? Christmas only comes once a year.” 

Her lips quirk up and she tries to ignore the pain that flashes through her brain, a reminder that “I just might not make it to next Christmas so may as well enjoy this one, yeah?” 

He shakes his head and looks away, but she feels his guilt. For what she doesn’t know, neither of them can control what’s happening to her, and suddenly—just like that— she feels like a fucking  _ idiot _ for being mad at him. It’s her fault for taking the job and thinking she’d be able to screw over Arasaka in the first place, but that would mean that she’s the reason her friends are dead. 

She can’t accept that. No yet. 

“V.” Johnny’s hand settles on her shoulder, stealing her attention away. “Stop thinking ‘bout that, kid, let’s have a good time and buy a shard.” 

She lets Johnny choose which one they get, he goes for a gorgeous snowy setting, hacking into her cyberoptics to see Night City as it gets blanketed in crisp snow. It falls from the sky in tiny flakes and he smiles, clapping her on the back. 

“Nova,” he comments through a chuckle, reaching out to take her arm and guide her forward. “C’mon, I wanna see those musicians.”

“Johnny, that’s not ‘till the end, like at 10:00 pm tonight.”

“Uh-huh.” He falls onto step beside her, head swiveling around to take in the scenes. “And when are the fireworks?”

“Dunno, ten minutes or so.”

He glances at her, pulling his glasses down to look at her properly. “I remember watching the fireworks with Rogue, back before life went to shit. Haven’t seen ‘em since.”

She glowers at him, bottom lip jutting out slightly. “We’re gonna be here all night.”

“Yep. Pretty much.”

She snorts with a shake of her head. Apparently he’s calling the shots now, preem. 

When the first blast goes off overhead, a little behind schedule, they’ve managed to find a beautiful spot to sit back and watch. They’re on the roof of some lousy apartment, laying back on the cold brick side by side. 

The shapes and colors aren’t different than what Johnny used to watch, and she isn’t too surprised on that front, but he’s still just as enchanted as she is. 

Fireworks have that effect on people, so it seems. 

The show takes her mind off of life for a few moments, but her thoughts keep drifting back to the last couple of days. All the suffering and trauma that makes her want to lie down in bed and never get back up. Content to let the relic destroy her brain. 

Johnny helps, draws her back to the present with gentle pokes directed at her brain—it’s scary how he’s able to do that, implant thoughts inside her head that weren’t originally her own to begin with. 

But for now she’s grateful for the distraction, she’ll be angry at him later. Maybe. If she has the energy. 

She’s dead tired when 10:00 o’clock rolls around, but she feels Johnny’s building excitement for the closing act of the parade. His bread and butter—those on stage shredding on a guitar and singing through a mic that resonates through the crowd. 

They keep their position on the roof, close enough with her advanced cyberoptics to zoom in and see the musicians properly. They’re sitting on the very edge, legs hanging off. He’s got a fresh cigarette lit, and when he’s halfway done with it he asks her to light her own. 

“Tis the season, V, c’mon, just one. What harm can it do?”

A lot, actually, but she gets where he’s coming from. Her chances are slim as of now, so why not indulge? Tonight is already spiraling into something she hadn’t expected, because surprisingly she’s having a good time, and so she digs into her pocket and slips the cigarette between her lips. 

She keeps her eyes on his when she lights it, watching his pupils blow wide at the first puff. 

“Fucking hell. It’s good, isn’t it?” He laughs when she shrugs, a pointless question when he can feel the nicotine flood her veins and loosen her up. 

“Merry Christmas, Johnny.” 

He perks up, hadn’t been expecting that, and gives a slight nod in response. Staring off into the distance, at those playing on stage as he tries to bury the longing that swells up inside his chest at the sight of them and sighs. “Merry Christmas, V.” He holds his fist out and gives a half smile when she bumps her closed hand with his. “Here’s to 2078.”


End file.
